Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From Fine Dining to Small Plates
At the top of the city's food chain, fine dining thrives. While many Melbourne chefs exper-
iment widely, mixing and matching techniques and ingredients, you'll rarely find chefs do-
ing fusion for fusion's sake. There's too much respect for providence and context. You'll
instead find menus that rove across regions and riff on influences. Modern Australian
cuisine is a search to find a nation's own unique food and is hard to define. Some chefss in-
corporate native ingredients, such as Shannon Bennett at Vue de Monde, Ben Shewry at
Attica and Fitzroy's Charcoal Lane, while other chefs incorporate both modern Mediter-
ranean and Asian ideas and flavours to greater or lesser degrees: Andrew McConnell at
Fitzroy's Cutler & Co, St Kilda's Golden Fields and the city centre's Cumulus Inc manages
to create a particularly thoughtful version of this style.
There's a long tradition of posh Italian dining in the city and it's often exemplary, with
chefs such as Guy Grossi at Grossi Florentino. Mediterranean is also done with high-end
flair and a modern sensibility by chefs such as Frank Camorra at MoVida and George Ca-
lombaris at Press Club and Gazi.
More recently, the city has been taken over by a growing fleet of Mexican restaurants
ranging from upmarket chic to cheap and cheerful, many of them great-tasting and authent-
ic. Mamasita is one of the long-standing originals to kick it all off and is still the best. The
other dining trend popping up around town is the advent of food from the USA, ranging
from Southern-style cooking to diner and deli fare, as well as 'dude food' where pulled
pork features heavily.
Regional Victoria also has several 'destination' restaurants. Some fit the stereotype of
hearty country fare, such as the 'agriturismo'-styled Sardinian cuisine at the Tea Rooms at
Yarck. Others, such as acclaimed chef Dan Hunter's Brae at Birregurra (in the Otways),
surprise with sophistication and creativity.
Given that there's always so much to try, city dwellers love to eat out often, rather than
saving up restaurants for celebratory big nights out. Melbourne really comes into its own
when it comes to a casual, grazing style of dining. Small and large plates override the rigid
three-course chronology, but an informal menu and more modest price tag don't mean that
high-quality produce or attention to detail are sacrificed.
In a similar manner, bar food is no longer seen as a mere consort to booze, but something
that makes for an equal marriage of tastes and experiences. This kind of 'smart casual' eat-
ing out is an easy way to join the locals, and also a great way to sample widely without the
